The move by Michigan’s state legislature last week to remove control of school curriculum and academics from Detroit Public School’s board to financial czar Robert Bobb is just the latest of many changes to move education from under control of the nation’s most-dysfunctional big city school board. From the scandal involving former board president Otis Mathis (whose illiteracy was as head-shaking as the behavior that led to his resignation) to the antics of David Murray (who defended Mathis), the school board epitomizes the most-publicly worst that American public education governance can offer. But the problems aren’t limited to Detroit alone; while there are plenty of school boards, urban, suburban and rural, who serve their families, taxpayers and children well, there are far many more that have contributed to the nation’s educational crisis.
As you watch this video produced by the Education Action Group Foundation last year, consider what we can all do to end traditional education governance and move to a system in which parents are the lead decision-makers in schools and cultures of genius can be nurtured and sustained. We can’t wait for atrocious and merely mediocre school boards to finally get themselves together. Our kids deserve better.
